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“Yeah,” I responded, making sure to keep my voice cheery.
It wasn’t the first time Robert had called ahead to pay my dinner bill, even if I was just out for the evening with friends. The first time he’d done it, I’d considered the gesture chivalrous.
Not today. Today, it seemed like control.
Chapter Seven
Despite my lack of appetite for dessert, Sharon and I sat on the sofa munching on popcorn and watching a teen slasher flick that we’d picked up from a variety store—a movie that neither of us had heard of, starring no-name actors. The special effects were so pathetic and the story line so incredible that the movie wasn’t scary in the least. In fact, it was laughable.
We were watching a shower scene now, with a big-busted woman who seemed more interested in touching herself than getting clean, lathering soap over her breasts and ass in what was meant to be an erotic display.
“All right, all right, we get it,” Sharon mumbled. “Can we move on with the plot, please?”
“What plot?” I asked, laughing.
“Why are there never any naked guys in these movies?” she asked.
“Because the writers and producers are men. And they obviously don’t think that women enjoy seeing a nice male ass, too.”
Sensing a noise, the actress paused with her hands on her nipples, which she had caressed to an erect state. The music’s tempo had picked up, indicating that danger was imminent. The blonde-haired beauty asked, “Who’s there?” and then playfully, “Donnie, is that you?”
Though Sharon and I had to know what was coming, that when the woman pulled back the shower curtain she would face the masked killer, we screamed when it happened. The woman’s eyes went wide with terror, and the killer raised a large butcher knife. She started to scream, but it was too late, and a moment later blood sprayed all over the bathroom.
Or tomato juice.
The gruesome murder completed, the killer muttered, “Nice tits.”
“Right,” Sharon said in an exaggerated tone. “That’s realistic.”
I started to laugh. So did she. The movie might have been stupid, but it was just what we needed—something so far from reality that it wouldn’t remind Sharon of the loss of her husband.
The scene went from the gruesome one in the bathroom to a college campus. I picked up a handful of popcorn—extra butter as Sharon had requested—and had just begun to munch on a mouthful when the room phone rang.
“I know it’s not for me,” she said.
“I guess Robert’s calling to say good-night.”
I got up from the sofa and hurried to the phone. Sharon paused the DVD.
“Hello?” I said.
“Oh, darling.” He seemed a little breathless. “I’m glad I reached you.”
Instantly, I was alarmed. “Robert, what’s the matter?”
“I don’t know…but I haven’t been feeling well for the last couple of hours.” He sounded as if it hurt to talk. “I…”
“What hurts? Your head? Is it stomach pains again?”
“My…chest.”
“Oh, my God.”
Sharon flashed me a look of concern.
“All the stress of this week…I think it’s gotten to me.”
“Oh, Robert.”
“I need you, Elsie.”
“Of course.” My heart pounded against my rib cage. “Oh, my God.” I spoke hurriedly, my own breathing ragged. “You have to hang up and call 911. Get to a hospital, Robert.”
“All…right…I will.”
Sharon got up and moved to stand beside me. “You’ll be fine, sweetheart,” I told him. He had to be. “You’ll be fine.”
“I need you, Elsie.”
“I’ll leave right now. Have the hospital call me when you get there, so I know which one you’ve gone to.”
“Elsie…If anything happens, I love you. I want you to know that.”
“Don’t talk like that! You’re going to be fine. But please call for an ambulance. Now.”
My hands were shaking as I replaced the receiver. I met my friend’s concerned gaze. “We have to go. Right now.” My hands began to shake. “Oh, Sharon.”
“What?” she asked. “What’s going on?”
“I think Robert might be having a heart attack!”
Fear unlike any I’d ever experienced before gripped me for the entire drive home. Even if I’d taken my car to Charleston, Sharon would have had to drive back. I was far too shaky to control the wheel.
With each passing second, I grew more and more terrified. I’d called every hospital in the Cornelius area, and even within Charlotte proper, but couldn’t confirm that a Robert Kolstad had been admitted to any of them. If he wasn’t in the hospital, did that mean he was dead on the floor of our house?
“Why does no hospital have any record of him being admitted?” I asked. My voice was shrill, laced with panic.
And I was also feeling guilty. Guilty that I’d entertained, even for a minute, the idea of leaving Robert.
“Maybe it’s too soon,” Sharon said. “Or maybe there was an error when they put him in the system.”
“Or maybe he’s dead on the floor!”
“He’s not dead.” Sharon reached for my hand and gave it a comforting squeeze. “I know he’s not. Don’t start thinking the worst.”
“I should call Olga!” I exclaimed, remembering our housekeeper. “She’s not normally in on the weekends, but—”
“Olga’s out of town for her daughter’s wedding this weekend, remember?”
“Oh, shit. That’s right.” I pressed a palm to my forehead. “Shit, Sharon. He mentioned he wasn’t feeling the best. I shouldn’t have left him. I shouldn’t have…”
“Don’t blame yourself. He’s okay. I know it. And we’re almost there.”
My phone was sweaty in my hands. “I’m going to try the hospitals again.”
Calls to all area hospitals produced no results. I would make the rounds of every one if I had to, but first I needed to go home and see if Robert was there.
If he was…
No, he’s not. He can’t be.
As Sharon pulled into my driveway, I drew in a gaspy breath and wiped away tears. I wasn’t sure how she’d been so strong after the death of her husband, but I was already an emotional wreck, anticipating finding Robert’s lifeless body in the house.
“Don’t do that,” she said. “Don’t fall apart yet.”
I nodded. “Thank you, Sharon.” I reached for the car door. “Thank you.”
“You think you’re going inside without me? Not a chance.”
I pulled on the handle a couple of times, wondering why it wouldn’t open.
“It’s locked, sweetie,” Sharon said. “Give me a second.”
Of course.
I let go of the handle, and she hit the button to release the locks. I all but fell out of the car when I opened the door.
Sharon had to unlock the front door to my house because I was too jittery to do it. She stepped inside first. I took a deep breath and went in after her.
The great room was empty, but I had expected that. If Robert was anywhere, it was going to be our bedroom.
I rushed for the staircase. Darted upstairs. At the top I turned left and ran down the long hallway.
The double doors were slightly ajar, and I pushed them open. The light on Robert’s night table was on, illuminating his still form on the bed.
I gasped. Started to cry.
“Robert!” I ran toward him.
And that’s when something amazing happened. He lifted his head and looked at me.
Utterly surprised, I stopped dead in my tracks. It was as if I had so expected the worst that my brain couldn’t process what I was seeing.
“Elsie…”
The sound of Robert’s voice broke the spell. Happiness bubbled out of me in a relieved breath.
“Thank God!” I quickly looked at Sharon. She clasped her hands together, clearly overjoyed. Then I made my way to the bed, where I sat beside Robert and took his hand in mine.
“You’re here.” He sounded weak.
“Oh, baby. I was so worried.” I pressed his hand against my cheek. “What happened?”
“I’m fine now. That’s all the matters.”
“You went to the hospital?”
Robert’s eyes flicked in Sharon’s direction. I got his meaning. He didn’t want to discuss the situation with her here.
I eased off the bed and crossed the room to the door, where Sharon was standing, respectfully keeping her distance.
“Well, he’s not dead,” I said, stating the obvious. I heaved a weary sigh. “Thank you so much for getting me here safe and sound. I couldn’t have done it alone.”
She waved away my comment. “There’s no need to thank me.”
“I’m sorry we had to cut our weekend short,” I told her.
“Gimme a break. There’s no need to apologize for that.”
I nodded, then gave her a hug. “I’ll call you tomorrow. Update you on Robert’s progress.”
“Go take care of your husband.”
“Let me see you out.”
I walked downstairs with Sharon, saw her to her car, then went back inside. Before rejoining Robert, I went to the kitchen and put on the kettle to make some tea for him.
The kettle on, I headed upstairs. Robert was still lying in bed.
I climbed onto the bed beside him and gently stroked his face. “How’re you feeling?”
“I’m good now.” He reached for my hand. “I’m glad you’re here with me.”
“I called every hospital. No one could tell me if you were admitted. I was going out of my mind with worry. I thought I’d come here and find…and find…”
“I’m sorry, darling. I didn’t mean to put you through that.”
“Where did you go? University Hospital?”
“I went to Lake Norman.”
“Weird,” I said. I’d phoned Lake Norman Regional Medical Center first. “I called there. A few times. They said they didn’t have you in their system.”
“Perhaps because I was in Emergency.”
“Perhaps,” I acknowledged. After a beat, I went on. “Obviously, you didn’t have a heart attack.”
“I didn’t.” Robert chuckled softly. “You’ll think this is silly. It was gas pains.”
